


a source of strength

by lunarflower



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Childhood Memories, Friendship, Gen, Triple Drabble, told through the POV of Destiny Trio
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-08 00:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17970866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarflower/pseuds/lunarflower
Summary: Strength comes from within. Within, are brave (reckless) decisions between childhood friends on a summer morning.





	a source of strength

_**On the Sea/Beach House** _

 

Destiny Islands, for all its beauty and warmth, wasn’t much to brag about. Riku knew this very well. 

Living on an island that consisted of their main island (which didn’t have much to begin with) and the play island, it was easy to run out of things to do to pass the time. Especially in the summer when school was out and there was no summer school to take up their time. This, was thanks to Riku insisting that they study so they don’t spend their time locked in school during the best season of the year. Even though every month was basically summer on Destiny Islands, but he didn’t really think that through.

Which is how a twelve-year-old Riku found himself on a warm July morning laying on the ground in the small islet that housed his favorite Paopu tree with his two best friends. His small arms and legs were spread out as he boredly looked up at the sky and contemplated the direction in which the soft looking clouds were passing by. The warmth of the sun hadn’t gotten too hot yet, thanks to the ever present sea breeze.

“Okay Riku,” Sora spoke from his right, after some time (half an hour, probably) of the three of them just laying there and looking at the sky. “You dragged us out of bed at the crack of dawn--” 

“It’s probably like, eleven thirty,” Kairi piped up from Riku’s left.

“ _Whatever,_ ” Sora grumbled. “Riku woke us up and dragged us over here. I already ran out of shapes that the clouds could look like and now I’m bored. So what are we doing?”

Riku turned his head to his right and felt his cheek press lightly against the warm ground. He looked at Sora, who had his arms crossed behind his head and had that pout on his face. The pout that the brunette probably thought was a glare yet didn’t achieve its goal due to him being eleven and still having those chubby cheeks. The fact that he still had the bandage on his cheek from when he tripped while racing Kairi didn’t help. Especially since they had little anchors on them.

Sora was _not_ a morning person and probably never would be. Riku knew this, but he woke up with so much energy that he just jumped out of bed, took a shower, and ran off to round up his friends. He didn’t really have a plan on what to do to burn off that energy (that fizzled away just like the clouds) and now he felt bad for subjecting his friends to this boredom when they could’ve been sleeping. So all he could say amounted to:

“Uh…”

Before Sora could let out his overdramatic groan that only a kid could achieve, he heard what sounded like Kairi sitting up. “We could jump off that tree!” She exclaimed, pointing up towards the Paopu tree.

At this, Sora curiously sat up. “Just jump off? Where?”

“Into the water, dummy.”

“Oh,” was all Sora said. Riku finally sat up next to Kairi and watched as Sora stood up, and contemplated the tree. He was gazing at up the length of the tree, up towards where it began to curve and tilted his head up to look at the tip while he slowly walked to the edge of the islet. Reaching the edge, he leaned out a bit and gazed out into the ocean. It was then that he realized just how high the tree was.  “You think jumping off the tip will land us into the water?” He asked, glancing back at his friends.

Kairi shrugged and made an _I dunno_ type sound. She stood up, dusted off her lavender colored shorts and reached her hand out to help Riku up who muttered a thanks.

“Doesn’t hurt to try.” She grinned, “Also, it’s starting to get hot so it’ll cool us off!”

Despite the fact that it _could_ hurt to try, Riku decided that they hadn’t made enough stupid decisions so far that summer and this was definitely one.

Crossing his arms, Riku looked up towards the tree. “Alright,” he began, “Who’s gonna try it out first?” When he didn’t hear his two friends respond, he looked back at them and frowned.

Sora and Kairi looked at each other and then at Riku. Pointedly.

“Me? Again? _Really_?” He groaned. Kairi lightly scratched at her cheek and at least had the decency to look apologetic. Her freckles were becoming more pronounced as the summer went on, Riku noticed.

Unlike Kairi, Sora stomped a foot impatiently. “Yes, you! You’re the oldest!”

He was only older by a year and while it had some benefits, he was always the one that had to test out their dumb (read: reckless) ideas. While the three of them were considered brave (read again: _reckless_ ) by their friends, they had their own system.

Subjecting himself to his fate, Riku grumbled, “ _Alright_ , I’m going.”

He’s climbed several trees in his life. He and Sora (then later, Kairi) have explored the entirety of the small play island and that meant many trees. Yet those trees were standing straight up and had a flat top where eggs would randomly show up. _This_ particular tree was not only a bit thinner, but it curved and the top was somewhat vertical, but not a flat plane like the others.

Riku heard his two best friends walk closer to watch him as he hopped up to where they usually sit on the tree to watch the sunset. Only now, he’s straddling it and trying to position himself similar to how they climb the other trees. Using the sides of the sole of his shoes and digging his fingers to plant on and basically embed himself on the tree so he doesn’t fall off, he begins the awkward sideways climb.

“I knew _you_ could do it, Riku!”

“You look so fucking badass!”

“Don’t say bad words, Sora!” 

“Heh, sorry. I heard it in a movie yesterday.”

Riku knew he didn't look fucking badass. Especially not with the awkward climbing that he was currently doing in front of his two best fiends. Although hearing their conversation was easing the sweat forming on his palms, Riku huffed out some air as he tried to put enough weight on his legs so he could sit up and straddle and then stand near the tip of the tree. The tree became more vertical the higher he went, and the large leaves weren’t in the way like he thought they’d be. The branches split them far enough to have them droop in several directions and also provide a place for him to secure himself in.

He braced himself to put even _more_ weight on his legs and finally stand on top of the tree when--

“RIKU?!”

The entire world combined with his rapidly beating heart in that moment. 

_BA-BUMP.BA-BUMP.BA-BUMP.BA-BUMP.BA-BUMP.BA-BUMP!_

If asked, Riku will never admit to yelping and wrapping his arms and legs around the Paopu tree. He shakedly turns towards the shore and sees none other than Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” yelled Tidus, with some embarrassing squeaks in between.

Kairi cupped her hands on the side of her mouth and yelled back, “WE’RE JUMPING OFF THIS TREE AND INTO THE WATER!”

Beside her, Sora did the same to add, “WANNA WATCH?!”

They were somewhat hard to make out from Riku’s point of view due to the large leaves and not only were they far but he was _still_ clutching the Paopu tree. Narrowing his eyes, he sees the three friends talking amongst each other until they begin to run into the shack that will lead them up into the bridge connecting them together.

Letting out a sigh that sounded more like a pained groan, Riku decides to get back into his earlier position ready to stand. “They better hurry up,” He grumbles as he carefully wipes each palm on his shorts to get rid of the sweat. It’s high into noon now and the sun is beaming down directly above him. Jumping into the water doesn’t sound too bad now, ignoring the height and all.

“Cmon Riku, what are you, scared?”

“Yeah, thought you weren’t afraid of _anything_.”

“You twerps aren’t the ones trying to balance on this tree!” Riku yells down at them. Yeah, they use the whole year gap between them to make Riku do stuff or make all the important decisions but he can call them stuff like _twerps_ or _brats_ and feel cool and mature about it.

Finally, _finally,_ after an eternity (about three minutes) of suffering up on that tree and waiting, their friends reach the small island.

“Okay--” Selphie laughs disbelievingly up at Riku.

“Who’s idea was it this time?” Wakka asks, tossing a blitzball up and down absently.

Looking way too proud of herself, Kairi raises her hand and bounces a little. “It was mine!”

He looks and sees as Selphie fixes her mustard colored sundress and sits down comfortably on the ground. Before the five of them down there get too comfortable and start talking about nonsense, Riku raises himself up from where he was carefully (or as carefully as one can be on a curved tree) squatting and stands at his full height.

He feels his palms sweating again at the feeling of being so unbalanced and wobbly so high up. “Alright,” he announces and it gets everyone’s attention even if he didn’t raise his voice. Wakka is the same age as him, but they all still regard him as a leader figure. “As much as I’d love to hear you guys chat over some tea, I can’t stay up here all day. So.” Bold words for someone who yelped not too long ago.

Raising his hand to give a two fingered salute, he looks down at Sora and Kairi. “See you both on the other side.”

He’s rewarded with their smiles that immediately slow his rapid heartbeat. Sora and Kairi probably don’t realize just how they look when they smile at him like that. Their faces are relaxed, smiles wide, and their eyes reassure Riku every single time. They’re so full of admiration, loyalty, and love. He’s not a sap so he’ll probably never tell them, but those looks they give him are the reason he feels he isn’t afraid of anything. 

With that, he looks back down onto the ocean and without ceremony, he crouches down as if he’s on Kairi’s diving board and jumps off. It’s awkward and he feels like he slipped at the last moment, but he positions his body in the air and hears as everyone’s voices become distorted in his jump until there’s nothing but brief sharp pain and the rush of water.

  
  


The memory flashes in Riku’s mind at the worst possible time. He ignores the way the gravel is roughly scraping against his knee as he’s kneeling down. Right now, Sora is on his hands and knees and looking at him with those sky blue eyes and looking absolutely _helpless._

The air is thick and humid in the Keyblade Graveyard. He knows it’s because of the ridiculous amount of darkness coming from Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed? He has no idea what they are aside from Ventus briefly mentioning them ( _before everything went to shit_ ) but he guesses that’s what the unknown monsters must be. He felt that heavy air in the Realm of Darkness, but that place has its own brand of _cold_ , a dead silent breeze that it’s easy to ignore. Here though, in this wasteland, it’s unbearable.

There are tears running down Sora’s face and his voice had sounded hoarse after letting out that painful heart-wrenching scream. 

But Riku still feels Kairi’s light. Her light which is the sun rising over the horizon as it filters through a window, beautiful and warm. 

Sora is still there too. His light is the bright sunshine that he remembers beaming down on the three of them on that summer morning.

Those smiles he loves so much, the ones that made him feel unstoppable, that was their light. He knows Kairi is there and that her light is holding everyone else’s together. So he’ll also be there and guide Sora back when he saves them.

“Sora, you don’t believe that. I know you don’t.”

  
  


_See you both on the other side._

**Author's Note:**

> Indulging in my head canon that ALL of Destiny Trio are dumbassss. Also wanted to show a bit of how I believe Riku didn’t just take a leadership role, but was lowkey put in it by the kids on the Islands. Lastly, also wrote this because I’m salty that we got no Destiny Trio interaction so I’m free to make up memories!!


End file.
